1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for applying coatings to surfaces, and to an apparatus for coating surfaces, in particular to a method for the contactless application of coatings to surfaces and to an apparatus for the contactless coating of surfaces.
2. Description of Related Art
A range of contactless methods are known for coating surfaces with plastics or varnishes. Spraying, flooding, extrusion, pouring or dipping methods or coating by means of slot dies or cap coating are among the methods used for this purpose. However, all these methods are relatively unsuitable or at least highly complex for highly accurate metering of the coating material. In particular, coating methods of this type are also unsuitable or at least of only limited suitability for the selective coating of selected regions of the surface. On the other hand, targeted coating of selected regions can be achieved, for example, by subsequent patterning, for example the patterning of photoresists by exposure and developing. These resists are applied to substrates, generally by spin-on coating, making it possible to produce particularly thin and homogenous coatings of photoresist. However, the subsequent patterning requires additional working operations.
Furthermore, the printing industry has disclosed methods for the subsequent patterning of printing forms, for example photopolymer plates for flexographic printing or printing plates for offset printing, in which the printed image is produced on a substrate which has been coated over the entire surface by writing or selective exposure by means of a mask. However, these methods are very complicated and expensive, and therefore the costs and work involved is only worthwhile for large print runs.